Here, you are urged and encouraged to run your mouths about something important.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Rapper The Game Creates Flash Mob with Twitter, could Face Charges

Rapper The Game tweeted for his followers to call a phone number if they wanted an internship. The problem was the phone number he gave them wasn't to him or anyone with the authority to offer an internship; it was a phone number to the Compton police station in Los Angeles. The Game has 580,000 followers who received the message. Yes, that's 580,000 very gullible individuals but think about how many of them actually vote.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A rapper could face criminal charges after a tweet from his account incited a telephone flash mob that overwhelmed the emergency phone system at one of busiest stations of the Los Angeles County sheriff's department, the agency said Saturday.

The sheriff's department alleges The Game tweeted the Compton station's phone number Friday and told his 580,000 followers to call the number if they wanted an internship.

Phones at the southeast Los Angeles County station started ringing at 5:23 p.m. Friday, and the lines were jammed by hundreds of calls for more than two hours, prompting authorities to bring in additional help. Many callers hung up as soon as someone answered, while others asked deputies about a music internship.

During that time people with legitimate issues that included a missing person, spousal abuse and two robberies were also trying to call in, department spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

We're starting to see thugs in the US testing the waters of social network revolution techniques. This is what happened in Egypt and in the UK. This guy needs to have the book thrown at him. Clear messages need to be sent by law enforcement that any attempt to incite mobs will be dealt with harshly.

Adding insult to injury while doing himself no favors, The Game wouldn't take down the tweet and attacked the police for asking him to take it down:

Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said that when authorities finally figured out what had happened, he sent two tweets to the rapper asking him to take down the number. Instead, Parker said, The Game posted that his account had been hacked and also tweeted that it was an accident.

"Yall can track a tweet down but cant solve murders!" the tweet said. "Dat was an accident but maybe now yall can actually do yall job !!!!"

A call and email to The Game's publicist, Greg Miller at Big Hassle Media, was not immediately returned.

The rapper finally took down the number around 11 p.m. Friday after a third request from Parker, who took particular issue with the accusation that deputies are not doing their job.

Look for these incidents to increase unless authorities crack down on them early.